OSHA cites SB Framing Services after worker dies after falling from roof

NAPLES, Fla. – Had his employer taken the necessary steps to fully protect him, a 32-year-old construction worker might not have suffered deadly injuries in a fall at a Naples building site on Sept. 26, 2015.

Selvin Velasquez, a residential framer, was working at a new residence at Marbella Isles on Monticello Boulevard when he lost his balance and fell from 19 feet to the ground below. Velasquez was transported to a hospital where he later succumbed.

In its investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that SB Framing Services Inc. failed to ensure a fall protection system was in use. The agency cited the Naples-based company with one willful and one serious violation.

“This tragedy was preventable,” said Condell Eastmond, director of OSHA’s Fort Lauderdale Area Office. “SB Framing Services was warned previously by a third-party, as recent as the day before this incident, that the workers on the roof had no fall protection and needed to be secured safely. The company’s owner ignored the warning and took no action to protect its workers.”

OSHA issued one willful citation, related to the fatality, for allowing employees to work from heights up to 19.5 feet without fall protection. SB Framing Services’ failure to provide workers with a training program on workplace safety resulted in a serious violation. Proposed penalties total $53,900.

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20152479fs.pdf

SB Framing is a framing company that was subcontracted by A&C Construction and USI Contractors to install sheathing and framing for the new residential project. SB Framing has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.          

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Fort Lauderdale Area Office at 954-424-0242.